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Warren Central's Aden Greer (6) runs with the football Friday against Grenada. Grenada beat Warren Central 23-10 to advance to the MHSAA Class 6A championship game for the second year in a row. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

A Warren Central football player collects his thoughts after the Vikings lost 23-10 to Grenada in the MHSAA Class 6A semifinals on Friday. (Wyatt Mason/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central wide receiver Jaylon Winters (1) fights for possession of the football following a fumble in the third quarter of an MHSAA Class 6A playoff semifinal game against Grenada. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central quarterback Nash Morgan runs with the football in the MHSAA Class 6A North State championship game vs. Grenada. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central linebacker Chaka Walker (34) walks off of the field during Friday's MHSAA Class 6A semifinal game against Grenada. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central football head coach Josh Morgan talks to his players after the Vikings lost 23-10 to Grenada in the MHSAA Class 6A North State championship game on Friday. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

For Warren Central’s football team, the day after Thanksgiving was Bleak Friday.

Grenada running back McCaleb Taylor carried the ball 34 times for 224 yards and two touchdowns, and the Chargers turned two fumbles into fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Warren Central 23-10 in the MHSAA Class 6A North State championship game Friday night.

Grenada (13-1) advanced to the Class 6A championship game for the second year in a row, and will play Hattiesburg on Dec. 7 at Southern Miss’ M.M. Roberts Stadium. Hattiesburg beat Picayune 39-35 in the South State championship game on Friday.

Warren Central (9-4) had its best postseason run in three decades end heartbreakingly close to that goal.

“There will be a time to reflect. Right now, we were not thinking about tomorrow without football. We just weren’t,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “I’m very proud of them. They’re going to be missed. We’ve had a good year and I love them dearly.”

When the Vikings do look back at this game, they’ll probably kick themselves over the self-inflicted wounds that led to their defeat.

After Warren Central recovered a fumble at the Grenada 30-yard line, it fumbled right back on the next play. The Chargers drove the length of the field, with Taylor scoring on a 28-yard touchdown to put his team ahead 17-10 with 10:16 left in the game.

Warren Central fumbled again at its own 30 on its next possession. Grenada quarterback Brayden Trusty capped a four-minute drive with a 5-yard TD run for a 23-10 lead that effectively iced the game with 5:22 remaining.

Warren Central had not committed any turnovers in its first two playoff games. It had four in this one — all fumbles — including on three consecutive possessions in the second half. Grenada turned them into 17 points.

“I don’t know how to explain it. We haven’t done that, and they were huge. They were a big part of the game,” Morgan said of the fumbles.

In addition to the turnovers, the Vikings committed three penalties on fourth down and another on third down that extended Grenada scoring drives.

“When you get to this point, the edge can come in many different ways when you’re playing a really good team like that,” Morgan said. “We just didn’t do a good job of executing. Penalties and things like that, when you look at that, that’s what it is.”

Nash Morgan completed 11 of 14 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown for Warren Central. Michael Hall caught seven passes for 59 yards, and Jaylon Winters caught three for 71, including a 20-yard touchdown in the first half.

Jonah Artman also kicked a 35-yard field goal that tied the score 10-10 late in the second quarter.

Warren Central reached the state semifinals for the first time since 1994. Josh Morgan, as he always does when the season ends, tried to think about what this group of Vikings accomplished over 12 weeks and not what went wrong in the final quarter of the final game.

“Great year. Really good football team. I really felt like we had an opportunity to be state champions, and we all had that dream. It didn’t come out for us,” Morgan said. “But our guys and what they mean to us, and what we’ve built here is on a good foundation. We love our kids and they’ll never forget this ride.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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